I have been playing guitar since high school, and while at Western Mich University, I got the silly idea to make a guitar. Now, as it happens, almost no one makes just one guitar, and I have been doing that ever since.
(Studying guitar at WMU? No. My major instrument at the time was clarinet.)
Building guitars and repairing guitars are actually two different, although closely related, trades, and require different approaches to the use of one's time. But the fact that I have done both most of the time has been helpful. You can learn from what has happened to other people's instruments when designing your own. And knowing how to make all the elements from scratch can be a big help when presented with a disaster case for repair.
Over the years I have worked in a variety of situations, as an independent part-timer, as an independent full-timer, as an independent within a store, as an employee in a warranty shop, as an employee in a store, out of my home, and out of a downtown shop. I am currently working in the repair shop at Elderl Instruments.
Although I do use some modern techniques, the longer I've been building guitars, the more traditional I've become in my way of thinking and of building. I build primarily Classical guitars, and have found that classical designs produce very good steel-string acoustics as well. No, I don't build electrics (although I'm too cheap to buy one, I made my own), but I've done a lot of repairs on them over the years.
I tend not to buy rosettes and other decoration materials, preferring to make my own. My designs are rather simple, but I think tasteful. A couple more lines, and I'll let you judge for yourself. I've done a fair amount of pearl work, but I don't have any good photographs for you at the moment. (Too bad.)
I've put pictures of some of my guitars on a separate page in case your modem is slow like mine, so you don't have to wait for them if you've already seen them or want to wait till you have more time.
Over the years I've picked up on a lot of things that affect guitar design, and have often thought of trying to write a book for the benefit of other folks who may want to learn from my experience. However, apart from the fact that it's a fairly large and time consuming undertaking, it's rather cumbersome in that what I have to offer is more of a collection of interrelated facts and ideas that something that's truly organizable as a book. Perhaps someday I'll get some time and start to put it together here instead. What I have done is put together a fairly complete autoharp repair book, which I have posted here, and I'm currently working on a method book for playing charango (not yet available).
(For the guitarmaking book, don't hold your breath, but do check back some time.)
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